You're the Exception
by StevieWonderboyx
Summary: I don't date, but I'm you're mate; I don't fall in love, but I can't stand her in your arms... you're an arrogant jerk and I can't stand men like you, but I can't stand being without you... I guess you're the exception. *Slow Updates*


**AN. **Please let me know what you think of this fic. First first person! Woot! Updates will be slow.. so if you're one of the few who can't stand it when they update slow.. please don't read and end up yelling at me. I have a very busy life and can't always find the time, as of yet, to write. Please be patient. PS No sad endings in this one. No one dying.. it's happy. :D

**Disclaimer!:** I do not in any way own Inuyasha or any of the characters. Rumiko Takahashi (OH GOD I THINK I SPELT THAT WRONG! I AM A HORRIBLE PERSON!) does. They are AWESOME and I love them for it.

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**Chapter 1**

I, Kagome Higurashi, have an interesting story to tell you about a student falling for her teacher, well substitute teacher that happens to be a Hanyou, who loves a different student. To his dismay though, his youkai blood had chosen another, against his will. Poor guy, but maybe his youkai blood had it right? Well, before I get ahead of myself too much; I should probably start off by telling you the story before it all began.

My life is actually rather boring, well was. Every day I go to school, nothing new there. Yeah, it was my senior year and it was supposed to be this huge deal, but don't believe the movies… or the books. Oh, and if someone decides to just come up and tell you that it is… they're lying, in denial, and have their heads _way_ to far up in the fairytale clouds. Those people you should avoid, nothing in life is a fairytale, trust me I am one that would know.

I know what you're thinking but no, I don't have the worst life in the world and no, I'm not the girl who feels like the world is after her because she simply does not get her way. Trust me, there are tons of people with it worse than I have it out there, and if there was such a thing as a fairytale ending; I'm pretty sure that they would be the ones to definitely get one, but they don't so… there is no such thing. Oh, and I really don't care if I get my way in life, haven't since I was little… when my dad died. If it was up to me, and I'd get my way, he'd be alive. Is he? No, so obviously I don't get my way either and I really don't care. The world is still intact from me wanting him alive and not getting it so, yeah, can't say that's why either.

I bet you're curious on just how my life is, aren't you? Well, why don't we start on a day before school? Oh, how about on, let's say, Friday. So you get a little bit of it all.

I know this will seem pretty scattered, going back and forth out of my head and what not, but there is so much you need to know. You also need to know what type of person I am. This story can't be told so easily so try and keep up. Okay?

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"Kagome, wake up. My mom will be furious if you're not in the kitchen and eating breakfast in five minutes." I roll over and growl at the girl standing over my bed. That girl is Kikyo Tsumui, she's not exactly my friend, but I have to deal with her every week, my only breaks are on the weekends. Well sometimes. "Do not growl at me. You're not an animal, so don't act like one." Yeah, this woman is a year older than I am and she acts like she's my mother. Can you believe it? Sad thing is, every morning is like this; _awesome_ way to wake up in my opinion. Oh, can't you hear the sarcasm dripping off that one.

"I'm coming." I grumble at her as I sit up in my bed, just to show her that I am, indeed, going to get up. She's satisfied and I know this because she walks out of my room, which by the way is in her house, and leaves me in peace once again. Well, since I'm up I might as well as get ready for another _amazing_ day at school. Every day I walk to the same closet, except for those few days I'm actually at my home, and grab the same stupid uniform and put it on the exact same way. Only thing I like about the stupid outfit is it's green and comfortable. Otherwise, it could go burn in a fiery pit of doom.

Now that I am completely ready to sit in a desk and stare at a teacher, which I would rather rip my eyes out than do, I must walk down the stairs and greet the horrid family that my mother feels is _best_ to leave me with. I'm eighteen, you'd think she'd let me stay home on my own. HA! Nope, fat chance there! She literately forces me out of the house threatening to burn it down if she finds out I wasn't at Kikyo's while she's away. Did I mention while I was in it? I know it's just a threat and she won't do it blah, blah, blah... But why should I push it? Someone in this crazy, messed up town might have heard her threats and do it themselves, thinking in their own little messed up head that they're actually doing her a favor. Sad, I know, but true.

"Good morning." I lie sweetly through my teeth. Yes, it is a lie because this is anything but a good morning. Waking up in this house is never a good morning. Like today, I had to wake up to Kikyo's face, yet again. I know, they believe waking up and seeing Kikyo standing over them is so great and a gods' gift, but it personally kind of makes me feel like she's going to kill me one of these days. I can see it now; my eyes start to drift open as I start to wake and the last thing I see is her hauntingly beautiful, yet terrifying, face with her big creepy smile plastered on it and a glint in her icy dark eyes as she lowers a pillow over my face, smothering me to death.

I push my thoughts to the side as I walk completely into the room; sitting at the seat they, oh so 'nicely', informed me is mine and that I _have_ to sit in. They 'complain' when I sit somewhere else, even when it's just me sitting at the table. Retarded, I know right? I grabbed a few pancakes off the pile and drown them in syrup on my plate. The syrup is the only thing that tastes good; this woman cannot cook to save her life. Actually, scratch that, it will save her life. If anyone held her hostage, told her to cook for them or she'd die, and they actually ate what she made; they would die. I know you're surprised that I'm still alive if it's that bad. Well that's because I grew immune to it over the years. Yes, years.

"Good morning, dear. Hope you slept well." The overly cheery woman, who is Kikyo's mother, sing speaks as she pats me on the shoulder while she walked past. Man, this whole family gives me the creeps. I suppress a shiver from the spooky woman touching me and give her the biggest fake smile I could muster up at five in the morning. By the way school doesn't start for another hour and a half, and it's only about five minutes away. That means I'm wasting precious sleeping time that I could be having, if I simply was allowed to stay home.

"I did." Until your blood sucking daughter woke me up. She seemed happy with my answer, good thing she didn't hear what I really wanted to say. You know, that little bit afterwards. She'd probably swear I was an evil spirit and try to have me cleansed. Sorry crazy, creepy lady, but I am not an evil spirit. Though if you look at your daughter, or even in a mirror, I'm sure you'd see one.

"Well that's good." She replies but sounds like she's not even on earth anymore. What's that word I'm looking for? Um… dazed? Well, I sit there and finish my breakfast as slow as possible, because it's so long before school starts. On the bright side, at least you have enough time to chew this so-called food.

After the long agonizing breakfast, which I'm forced to lose sleep over, I am yet again forced to do something I'd rather avoid. Like I said before; the school is only like five minutes away, and that's walking too. So, why is it every day of the week I have to get into the car, which Kikyo owns and drives, and risk my life every day for about a minute and a half? Obviously whoever is in charge of our lives either one: needs me as a play toy or two: realized they had made a mistake and I'm not supposed to be on this planet yet and they're trying to take me out, but my bad luck makes me stay here anyways.

Once the demon driver decides to almost kill a dozen people, while screaming at them to watch where they're going, she parks and her flock of stuck up, Barbie dolls come flying over to her. They may look like the whole deal: smart with those rocking bodies that any girl would kill for that they simply like to whore around to get their way, but they're not. See you have to look past their exterior hallucinations they force us to see and see the ugly troll that is controlling the Barbie dolls with little puppet strings. In case you didn't know, trolls are evil, ugly little bastards. They will stick up for anyone who will better them in the end. As of this moment, that's Kikyo. Nowhere close to me; not that I want it to be. They all give me dirty looks as I grab all my things from Kikyo's trunk and tell Kikyo how bad she has it because she has to home the homeless and poor.

Poor my dick. The only reason of why Kikyo, and her family, have money is because they claim they need a _ton_ of money in order to take care of me. Which is such a lie! What's new though? My mother believes them anyways.

"Ka-go-me!" Three voices chorused as I reached my locker. I turn and give them a smile; like I do every morning. These three girls are the 'gossip girls', who I have, in some mysterious way, become friends with. They know everything before anyone, even the gossip about _the_ person themselves. How? I have no clue, but they make sure I know before they start spreading it out. Which I have to say, is actually pretty damn useful at times. Like when you want to avoid someone. Cough, cough, exes, cough, cough.

"Hey. What's new?" I ask them; knowing they had something to tell me just by their big smiles plastered across their faces. They're pretty creepy smiles actually. I turn back to my locker to grab my books for my next class, waiting for them to ramble on like they do every morning. Yesterday, they "heard" that a girl, who I can't remember the name of to save my life, got knocked up. At lunch time I saw the girl crying at her chosen lunch table and all her friends patting her on the back. It turned out that the girl was a week late for her period, and because of the rumors that she was, indeed, impregnated, she took a pregnancy test at lunch. Well, as it turned out, the rumors were true. Go figure, I actually think these girls can see into the future… or something, but don't quote me on that.

"Well… the rumor web says that next week we'll be getting a sub..." The first one named Ayumi started. That's another thing about these three girls; they have to say their own given part. One can't just say it all; they have to split it up. Rather annoying, but after a while you tend to get used to it.

"A really hot sub in Language Arts class." Yuka, the next one, comments. Of course adding in her perspective of what the substitute will look like. How they know this? I have no clue. She elbowed me a few times as she winked, I'm guessing that was supposed to hint something to me?

"Oh, and here Hojo comes to tell you about his party this weekend." Eri stated and sure enough the boy she spoke of is now putting his arm around my shoulders. I want to claw at it and rip it off, but I'm too nice for that. Instead, I smile at him and let him talk about his party; of which I'd really not like to go to. I remember what happened the last time. Please, don't get me started.

"So, Kagome; I'm having this party Saturday night and I would really enjoy it if you graced us all with your presence." Hojo, over sugary sweetly, says to me with a creepy-smile. No, not everyone's smile is creepy, just these four people's smiles. Well, maybe a few others. Okay, so a lot of people but not everyone's I swear. Anyways, Hojo throws these "health" parties, which _always_ gets crashed. It's expected because teens will always be teens. Reckless, immature, and crazy… Now that I think of it, kind of like one year olds. "Please?" He begged me. I rolled my eyes, finally taking his arm from around me, and looked to the three girls.

"I don't know… girls, how is the party going to be?" I asked them and their smiles grew wider. Hojo on the other hand looks at me confused. He is wondering why I would ask them about the future I'm sure. Well, obviously he doesn't know these girls are fortune tellers, psychic, time travelers, and etcetera. I bet they could tell him right now that there is nothing going to happen between us, ever. Poor guy would be heartbroken. Don't get me wrong; he is nice, handsome, and pretty much everything a girl would look for in a guy… but he creeps me out. Not the right vibe for someone I want to be with for the rest of my life.

"Well… the party will be crashed. No new news there."

"But you will meet a special guy in your life; possibly the one." Eri bumped my shoulder repeatedly while wiggling her eyebrows at me, which honestly creeped me out, but hey? Isn't that a good enough reason to go to the party? Test their psychic abilities?

"And the party isn't going to be a waste, best one this year!" Hojo scratched his head; obviously confused on how these girls 'think' they know how his party is going to be. Won't he be surprised if they are right? The four people in my little group, other than me of course, looked at me slightly confused as to why I hadn't responded. I just shook my head at them with a slight chuckle and started to walk away, Hojo following behind me. Like always.

"Well, I guess I'll be there Hojo. Ta!" I can feel his overly happy smile as I walk into my first class of the day. You'd think the poor kid would get the hint that I do _not_ intend to date him. Ever.

Upon entering the classroom I receive a paper wad right to the face. Apparently two overly energetic, immature boys thought it was smart to have a paper wad war in their seats, which just so happens to be by the door, facing it even. I glare at the boy who had hit me and continued to my seat. The boy mumbled sorry, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment and I could even tell out of the corner or my eye he was blushing. If you're wondering, that boy's name is Bankotsu. He's pretty decent, and we've talked from time to time, but again just not my type of guy. I know; I bet you think I don't have a type of guy and I'm going to be single all my life with thirty, or more, cats. Even if I was interested in Bankotsu, one of my friends has had their eye on him for a long time. I'm not one of those friends to go in and swoop their crush away. That's just wrong.

Honestly, being single my whole life looks pretty good to me right now. There is too much drama in a relationship. Seriously, there is all the fighting because you looked at this person wrong, you talked to this person, you're too friendly with this person, and the list goes on. Then you have the stress of constantly trying to better yourself in fear of losing the interest of the other person. Before you know it you're not who you were when it all started… neither of you are. Therefore; it just doesn't end up working out, and it all starts over again. A repetitive circle that ends once you have finally beaten who you are down to nothing, and have so many fears of what might happen that could hurt you or the other person in the "couple." See, drama.

My first class, out of the seven, is a very simple one; it's just home room. Home room is just a class that you can do homework you haven't finished yet, catch those Zs you missed that morning, or chat with your friends. I know; if you can sleep in the class what's the point of going, right? Well, if you don't go you fail. You're attendance is your grade… literately. You get ten points a day for being there; excused absence is a nine, and if you are tardy; the tardier you are the more points get taken off. If I was this teacher; I'd tell them all to skip that hour so I wouldn't have to come in right away, but I'm not, so I have to be here.

I look up and notice that Sango was walking in just moments before the bell rings and took her seat. Sango is one of my best friends and has been since, well as long as I can remember. I know, I know, with all these friends and being invited to parties you'd think that I'd be able to take down Kikyo and her Barbies, but sadly I can't. That would be a lot of bloodshed on my part… Just kidding!

Anyways, Sango sits in her normal seat next to me and seconds after sitting down her head lands face first onto her desk. After finally getting a good look at her; I realize that she is just as much of a mess as I am, if not worse. So… time to have some fun. Hehe.

"I take it you slept like a baby?" I asked her, a smirk crossing my face; I hold back a laugh as she groans and moans a reply back. "Oh, what was that dearest? You want Miroku to come and ravage you up? Well you're in luck he just walked in!" Sango's head flung up and she was ready to attack the lecher within a blink of an eye. Once she realized that he really wasn't there though, she turned towards me, giving me her famous death glare, which has everyone quite scared of her. I just happen to be used to it. Obviously I do these things a lot.

"I. Kill. You." She manages to spit out through her sleepy haze, which anyone who looks at her can see that it is clearly still there. Though for most this would mean you're in more danger than normal; of course, I can't help but break down laughing hysterically at her, trying my hardest to not double over to the floor, which doesn't improve the state of me dying any.

"Saangooo. I love you." I say all sweetly after I finally calmed my laughing. Her hands are right next to my throat, preparing to strangle me. Like so close you can feel the heat generating off her palms and you can almost feel her hands touching you.

So, I do the only logical thing. I take her off guard by jumping up out of my seat and hugging her. Now, I bet you're all wondering who this Miroku guy is and why he is a lecher. Well, he is some guy we ran into at one of Hojo's parties, who just so happened to go around and grope all the females' butts. Though once he groped my dear Sango's bum, he got knocked out cold. Ever since then he decided that she was the only one for him and held his heart. Though, it didn't stop him from groping other women; or sleeping with them. He is such a moron. How does he expect to win a woman over when he pulls that crap? Like I said before, relationships are too much drama.

We both agreed to just sleep in homeroom, since we had both needed it rather badly. The rest of the day went by pretty blandly. I had gym, where of course we played some stupid sport all "friendly" because it's too dangerous to play it like the guys do. Really? I'm not some piece of glass that if I fall I will shatter to a thousand pieces that will get stuck in someone's foot eventually. I can take a few broken bones. Yes, I know most chicks can't even take a broken nail. My lord, the pansies are making a bad name for us women. Here is the thing; women want equality, and then act like they're too fragile and need to be treated like some really expensive glass that is holding a gas that will wipe out all humanity if broken. Pah-lease, the only thing that will happen when you get a broken bone somewhere is a cast will be clashing with your outfit.

Oh, but of course the Kikyo and her Barbie clan don't have to participate in gym. All they have to do is show up and look pretty. Folks, that's what happens when your gym teacher is a male and the girls dress like they belong on a pole in some underground stripper joint high up in a building. Yes, yes, I just went there.

Yes, we do wear uniforms, but as you and all the other women who don't spread their legs at every male that is semi-attractive knows; it is how you wear it. Kikyo and the Barbies roll their shorts up at the waist so more of their dreadfully long and I will admit very attractive legs show; as well as their butt almost hanging out the bottom of the shorts. Their shirts they tie, claiming it's too hot for them, so most of their mid section shows too, they're pretty fit there too. Since they're so showy, we all know that most guys will drop and drool as they yank on their wank the second they see it. Yes, even the older guys who are married. Let's face it, fresh… scratch that; younger meat than what they're used to that hasn't begun to sag with old age and 'letting themselves go' when they get married is in viewing distance. They're going to take the chance to oogle any goodies they see.

Anyways, after gym, which I don't know why I have it so early in the morning anyways, I have History. I don't understand why History is so important. I'm grateful for what all the people have done for me but do I have to know their names and their family names and how they grew up before they even did the great historical thing? I don't take the time to learn about my own family history; why should I care about someone else's? As you can see my attitude towards this class is _ever so great_. I tend to doodle on my notebook in between notes; it makes the class go by much quicker.

My next class is English, my choice of a foreign language. This class seems like the longest purely because it is the one before lunch. I, being the average teenager that I am, am eager to go to lunch simply because lunch is the one place where I don't have to be silent and cause myself to have carpal tunnel many years earlier then I originally should, if I were to even get it at all. I understand that writing it down yourself helps you remember it and blah, blah, blah but couldn't they print up a few of them? I mean, half of these notes aren't even on the test. So, what's the point of writing them down anyway? To confuse you and make you study the wrong things so you have a higher chance of failing? After you cramp your hand writing it all, cram it all into your brain, and fail your test, all you have is a bunch of useless information that you probably won't use later in life.

Well, except for the final because we all know that whatever was on any test throughout the semester won't be on the final because that'd make it too easy and you'd already have forgotten all the information before to cram in all the information you needed for the test that you failed. School sucks, which is why lunch is my favorite class.

English is pretty boring, probably yet another reason of why it seems so long. All we do all day is learn about new words to make the words that come out of our mouth seem fancier, and in a different language. Which, again, we won't remember them anyways so really what is the point of trying to learn these new words? I bet it's for those times you want to use it and you use it wrong. Yup, I can't tell you how many times I've done that. Then we learn about grammar. That's not so bad, at least you don't sound like a complete idiot when you talk to an English person. Then again, if no one had grammar, in any language, then everyone wouldn't know the difference anyways; though it's kind of difficult remembering when to use semi colons, colons, commas, etc. Good thing I never plan on writing a book, let alone in English.

The days that this class drags the most is when the teacher decides that the monotone tape has to read a small book to us that we will take a test on the next day. Oh my, those are torture. I honestly believe everyone falls asleep in the class on those days. Well, that's not so bad, I guess. Everyone does need to catch up on their sleep that they're either missing or going to be missing over the weekend. So today, while the tape drones on, I doodle as I attempt to pay attention. What am I doodling you ask? Well, I'm simply drawing a girl smashing a spider, because one just happened to land on my paper and I smashed it, while a dog barks at the girl angry that she could have gotten hurt by the spider because he thinks he needs to protect her. I have to say, my artistic skills just keep improving. So does my imagination. I get a lot of practice.

Well now that the class is over I'm quite happy to announce that come Monday I will fail the test. Yup, that is right, fail, because there is no way that any of that stayed inside my head. As the saying goes; it went in one ear and out the other. So, I happily skip to my locker to put my things away and go to lunch. Not literately skip you twit, do I really seem like that type of person? You couldn't pay me enough money to skip… well maybe you could.

Once I make it into the cafeteria I get in line, buy a fry boat smothered in cheese, and share it with my best friend. Remember her? Sango, you know the one who is infatuated with the pervert? Yeah, you know who I'm talking about. We sit on a ledge that is a closed window to the cafeteria right next to the doors to go outside. We hang out with well… everyone there because everyone goes to wherever we are. Sango and I take up the whole ledge while everyone else moves around in front of us. If you ever pay attention you'll realize just how many people sneak outside to smoke. Don't even get me started on smokers.

"How is your day going so far?" Sango asked me as she popped another fry into her mouth and turned back to watch the guys goof off. We are the only girls in this little group too; did I fail to mention that? Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka have the next lunch hour so they're not here; otherwise I'm sure they would be.

"What day?" I reply and Sango just shook her head at me and laughed.

"So, Hojo's party this weekend… you going?" I nod my head, because believe it or not I have manners and my mouth was full. I wasn't raised in a barn; just a jail cell run by psychotic people who can't tell reality from illusions they create to make themselves feel better. It's a wonder how I've grown up to be so normal. "Is your mom coming home this weekend again?"

"She says she is, but you know her, she'll probably sleep the whole time. I won't even see her probably." Hojo had come out of the lunch room doors a few minutes ago, having just finished his food, and was standing next to me leaning against the wall.

"You know Kagome; you're welcome to stay with me if you don't want to stay at your mom's house. We have a spare bedroom." Hojo said all sweetly. Since he is one of my friends, he does know about my feelings towards my mom never really being there, but that doesn't mean I don't want to be in my own home.

"I'm good." I say as I pat him on the head, getting a chuckle from Sango. She thinks Hojo and my relationship is interesting and will advance to the next level. Why you ask? Because every morning he is there, normally he asks for a hug, and _if_ he catches me in between classes he carries my books, and at the end of lunch he again asks for a hug before he goes to gym, then he walks me to Kikyo's car, where he gives me one last hug of the day. I think it's kind of ridiculous, but I don't want to hurt his feelings by telling him no. Ha, ha. Yeah joke it up; I do have a soft side. I can't usually tell people no on things like that, I don't ever want to hurt their feelings.

"Okay." His smile flashed brightly at me as the bell rang. I hop off the ledge, luckily not tripping this time, and give Hojo a friendly hug before he rushes off down the hall waving the whole time like a mad man, who obviously took that hug in a different manner than it was given.

Man, I can totally be a klutz sometimes! Trust me, you'll figure that out down the road.

Next class I have is the dreaded class of Geometry. Geometry, the devils class that makes no sense! Why do you have to write paragraphs about something in math? Isn't math supposed to be numbers? Why does it seem like I'm trying to write an essay with words and have to have proofs, just like you have to have references in an essay, for a math problem to say that two sides are either equal or not equal? I'll be lucky if I barely pass this class. Do I doodle in this class? No, I do not because I'm too damn busy trying to write twenty essays, one for each problem, by the end of the hour because this teacher doesn't believe in homework and everything is due before you leave the classroom. If it's not done; it's wrong. Kill me now! The teacher has to make her own problems too; not the short ones that are in the book. She's just has to make them take half a page for one problem. If I wasn't too busy writing; I'd bang my head against my desk until I passed out.

Want to know her studying tips? When you sleep at night replace your pillow with your book and you'll absorb all the information as you sleep. Cool right? Don't try it, it doesn't work. Your neck just ends up hurting.

After that, that horrible class that was thought up by some man who had lost his mind; I finally get to have a break, that is after I run halfway across the school of course. Then I get to have art. I practice for this class all day, well not all but most of the day. All doodles that I drew throughout the day, except for the one with the dead spider, I turn in for extra credit. See and you all thought I was slacking! Extra credit in this class is really cool; for each random drawing you do and turn in, with your name on it of course, you get five points. Five points out of zero, since you know that's how extra credit is done. Not bad if you ask me, but I don't really need it. The actual art part of the class, which takes up the majority of it, I do great at. The part where you have to know all the special art terms, famous paintings, where they are located, and the famous artist can get slightly confusing. I miss one or two from time to time so the extra credit makes up for it.

I bet you think I'm an idiot. Sorry but I'm not. I do manage to pull out A's and B's out my bum, but it doesn't mean the work isn't hard.

"Sangooo… I missed you." I whine to Sango as she finally joins me at our table with her art project. We're doing yarn paintings. You take a piece of paper board, some glue, and different colors of yarn and make a picture. It is pretty cool if you ask me.

"You sound like Miroku." Sango stated, with a slight smile of course. Trust me she wasn't being mean, it's the truth he does that _all_ the time.

"Oh, does it make you miss him?" I wiggle my brows at her, big goofy grin across my face. She blushed and lowered her head thinking that I wouldn't see her blushing anymore. Hah! Wishful thinking! "You know Sango, we should go shopping after school; you'll want to look drop dead gorgeous for Miroku Saturday." I tease, only making her red tinted cheeks darken. Yeah, I know I'm against dating and relationships for drama, but that doesn't mean I don't want my friends to have what will make them happy. Again, I'm not cruel you guys! I don't force my beliefs onto my friends, I state them, but don't force them.

"Maybe a new outfit wouldn't be so bad," she trailed off, looking into space in serious thought. "Not for Miroku though. That pervert can rot in hell."

"But my dearest Sango, don't be so cruel. It's not my fault, my hand is cursed!" I try to give my best impression of Miroku's most common excuse. It doesn't make sense unless his manly parts are cursed too.

"Shut it, letch." We stared at each other for a few seconds before breaking out into a laughing fit. It's times like these that I really enjoy.

I examine my yarn painting, proud of my work. It was done in silver, red, and black; the silver randomly waved out of a symbol in the middle, each section created by the silver was twirled in red, as the symbol was black and popping out from the rest of it. That symbol is two hearts connected to a crescent moon, the same symbol that haunted all my dreams since I was a little child, but for some reason it always brought a feeling of safety.

"Hey Kagome," Sango trailed off applying glue to one of her strings of yarn before placing it down, "Think we can go to that club again this weekend, maybe even tonight?" She asked me. She was not looking me in the eyes, but I could still see the sadness on her face.

"It's that time again, isn't it?" She replied with a nod, obviously not strong enough to voice it. If you actually want to know; Sango's brother and father were taken in a shooting at the elementary school three years ago. Every year on the anniversary of their death, she takes it very hard and we go out to forget about it. We go clubbing a lot, don't get me wrong, it's just these nights we drank and danced the hardest. This night; we try to wipe everything from our minds as we try to just be one with the music, air, and flow of bodies around us.

"Do you want me to get Kouga to come again to make sure nothing happens?" I don't really feel comfortable having my ex-boyfriend show up, but he's the only one who knows. Well, other than Hojo but what is he going to do? Especially if he has to deal with a Youkai, he's only human. Kouga is wolf Youkai and even if he were to drink it doesn't affect him as it does us.

Oh yeah, I did have a boyfriend. He and I dated for many years but like I stated before; they change until they're no longer the one who you love anymore. It happened with us, he kept changing trying to "better" himself… but he ended up being someone I didn't know. He became very possessive, always calling me his woman, wouldn't let anyone near me; not even my own family members. One night he tried to force himself on me; that night is the night I found out I was a miko, and it's the only reason I got away. A blue light had shot out of my hand against his chest flinging him across the room, knocking him out in the process, and I fled leaving him there.

A few hours later I felt horrible for what I had done and went to go apologies, but he had another woman in his bed with him. I had found out later that he had been cheating on me for months with another wolf Youkai, Ayame. Though after I got to know the girl, I could clearly see that she loved him with her whole being no matter how he was. So, now she and I are friends, not really close but friends no less, and him and I… well we're getting to the friend spot again. It's hard to forgive someone when they betray your trust in them.

"Are you sure you want to invite him? I don't want it to be awkward." Sango mumbled and I smiled softly at her. She was amazing, even in her time of pain she thought of others before herself. Oh, did I fail to mention me and Kouga broke up about six months ago? Not even a year, but I feel like we just weren't meant to be so it's easier to look past what he had done.

"It's fine. We're trying to be friends anyways, besides he's your friend too. You know he'd do anything for you." Sango nodded mumbling an okay before covering the last of her poster board square. You could tell she made hers for a certain someone. It was purple, pink, and black. The black was bursting from the center of the page as if it was a hole sucking things in. The purple surrounded the black mixed with pink here and there to define it and in the middle of the swirling hole-thing, there was a purple M. She still claims she doesn't like him.

I look up at the clock to see how much time we had left, which was almost half an hour. I put my yarn painting on the drying rack, since it was finished, and took my cell phone out under the table. I hid it from the teacher as I sent Kouga a quick text to see if he was available for tonight. Shortly after he replied agreeing to come but with one condition, Ayame had to come too. I didn't have a problem with that; the crazy little female wolf Youkai could give any male Youkai a run for his money in a fight. Don't ever take her for granted.

"After school we'll get a new outfit for tonight too. I'll pay." Sango looked up smiling before putting her art project away and laying her head on the table. I now understand why she looked like crap this morning, and feel bad for teasing her. "Sorry… for this morning." I mumbled; as I too laid my head down to nap the remainder of the hour.

"It's okay," was the last thing I heard from her before darkness took me again that day.

.~*~*~*

I woke up startled by the bell at the end of the hour. Stretching as I stood I headed to my last class of the day, Language Arts. With my awesome luck, I begin my day with the same teacher as I end my day with. In Home Room she's not that bad, but at the end of the day she's a nightmare. Ms. Kinju doesn't like teaching and as the day goes on, and the more kids she has to deal with, the grumpier she gets. Which if you have her for your last hour, try to be one of the first people to change your schedule at the beginning of the semester, otherwise you'll be stuck. Like me.

After I walk into the classroom I see that she has the work written on the board. Read Romeo and Juliet, write five hundred word essay on what you perceived from the story, do page forty-five in the vocabulary book, and to write each of the twenty vocabulary words ten times including their definitions; all due tomorrow.

Hello carpel tunnel! I groan, along with other students who finished reading the board, and sit down getting straight to work. I have to keep my grades up so no matter how much I just want to say screw it and not do it, I work my butt off the whole hour only to get half the essay done and having to take the rest of it home.

Hojo just so happens to be in this class, so, I can't hide from him this hour. He picks up all my books and my bag giving me his one-of-a-kind creepy smile as he waited for me to lead the way out of the classroom to my locker. He places my bag down next to my locker as I take books out and shove them inside making the bag ungodly heavy. Even though I was going to party this weekend, Sunday was the day I always kept free to make sure I did all the homework these evil teachers forced on me. I close my locker after I finally have all my books that I need and lead Hojo, who is carrying my stuff again, out to the parking lot to Kikyo's car.

Today after school I get to be in the car longer, about ten to fifteen minutes longer, because she gets to drop me off at my house. As I approach the car the Barbies sneer at me and say they feel bad for Kikyo again as she just nods, pretending to cry. She's so dramatic over nothing.

I take my things from Hojo, slightly bowing to thank him, placing them in the back seat of the she devil's car before I turned and gave Hojo one of his daily hugs. I say bye and take my seat in her car as I skillfully ignored her friends and waited for her to finally get in and drive away. When she does, a small smile appears on my lips, because that's just one step closer to me getting home.

As we pull out of the school parking lot, I deem it as officially the weekend, where I get to go to my actual home. How much I've missed it. Once we arrive, I walk into the very empty house; only a few chairs, a small TV, appliances, and a table occupy the first couple rooms. I know, for someone who says they're rich this house sure doesn't show it, but why have an extravagant house when you're barely in it? Exactly, you see my point now; we just need the necessities.

I walk past the living room and into the hallway taking the first door on the right. Now if anything is extravagant it is my room. My bed is a queen size bed; you know those really fancy ones with the four poles and silk, which come down and outline the entire bed, making it blocked off from the rest of the room. I also have a walk in closet of rather expensive clothes, which are only really used when I go out partying. That's just about every weekend; what's the point of being home when no one will really be home with you? Yeah, my mom comes home on the weekends, more like Saturday, but she sleeps the whole time she's here; like I said before.

I can't blame her; she's a young mother who is at the peak in her career. It's a very stressful time in her life, at that. Though, I think she only works so much only because my dad isn't here anymore. Honestly, that's when she started trying so hard. It's like if she stops it'll catch up to her and she'll never break free. When it does finally catch her I'll have to be here to pick up the pieces. Who else will do it?

I look up where the canopy of my bed is, getting up from my previous laying position and grab the box that I keep hidden away. This box contains all of my memories, mostly those that contain my dad. I miss him a lot and I often wonder what my life would be like if he was here still. I always come to the same conclusion, everything happens for a reason. My dad's death would be the start my mom's career taking off and me being tortured. Who knew? I can't be selfish though, my mom is happy and doing something she loves, and it happens to help her escape from it all. For me? I may want to say it's horrible and I hate my life and some more crap, but I'm kind of thankful. Everything I go through just makes me stronger in the end; guarded, but stronger. That's more than what most people are, or can even say.

Wiping the few tears that had escaped away, I place the box back where it belongs. I know you're wondering why I place it there; my answer is quite simple, it comforts me. It makes me feel that he is looking down on me from a better place, protecting me, and watching me grow up. Sometimes, I'll even lie on my bed and talk to the box, because it makes me feel as though he is right there listening; like he's still here and not dead. Weird, I know, but it's one of the things I look forward to the weekends for; especially on those pretty bad weeks.

"I miss you, Dad." I whisper before getting up and heading to the bathroom connected to my room. I had to get ready to go shopping with Sango like I had promised. I know I have plenty of clothes that I could wear to the club and to the party tomorrow, but I have a feeling I need to be exceptional. Who knows maybe the three psychics are actually getting to me. That's probably what it is.

I start the tub as I prepared my body wash and hair supplies by the shower, I then placed a towel on the rack next to the tub. By this time the tub is full and I place the bathing oils in, then I proceed to the shower head and take a shower, spending extra time on my hair, as I wait for the oils to disperse throughout the water. Feeling clean enough; I turn the water off and slowly lower myself into the very warm bath water letting out a sigh of content. It's a very rare moment when I actually get to just sit back and relax.

After fifteen minutes or so I climb out of the tub. It's not safe to sit in the oils and steam for too long, you could end up passing out so I always make sure it's a decent time that I'm in there. Besides, pruny fingers and toes are not good; at least I believe they're not. I get dressed in a red tank and short blue jean shorts before I head into the kitchen to grab myself something to eat.

I stop in my tracks when I get there, shocked. Right in front of me is my mother. She's home early, and not sleeping. She looks my way and smiles at me, but I don't smile back. I can't.

"Mother," I acknowledge her coldly as I grab bread, peanut butter, and jelly making me a quick PBJ so I can escape.

"Kagome." My mother said back, though it looked as though she had more to say. Her mouth started to open and I knew I was right, there was no way her being home early, and awake, was a good thing. "I heard you're giving the Tsumui's a problem. Would you care to explain?" I glare at her. How dare she think I'm the problem! I get good grades and I behave, for the most part.

"They're lying." I grit out, practically stabbing my just finished PBJ. She sighed and sat down at the table motioning me to sit.

"Well I've taken a week off. Truth or not I'm going to be home to keep an eye on you." I looked up at her shocked. Did she really just believe me? The world must have ended.

"Wait, does this mean I get to stay home?" I ask, hoping that I got to stay in my house for once during the week. I watch my mom closely and see her slightly nod as if trying to decide if she was making the right choice. Hell yeah she was! I reach down and pinch my side to see if I'm dreaming, and it hurts like a beast but I smile anyways because believe it or not, I'm not dreaming!

"If you behave yourself, I may even let you stay home a few days during the week alone after this." Yup, the world must have ended! There is no way all this is coming from her mouth. It's a joke. Haha! You totally got me! "I've realized you've grown up, so, it's only fair to give you some responsibility." I couldn't help myself; I ran over to her and engulfed her in a hug, almost knocking her out of the chair in the process.

"Thank you. Thank you so much!"

"Now, this isn't final yet Kagome. You have to prove yourself first." My mother pushed me off her and I couldn't help the giant smile that was stuck on my face as I nodded vigorously. "Go. Don't come home too wasted tonight." Well, she's a smart pickle. Here I thought she didn't know what went on because she was always sleeping when she was home, or so I thought.

I grab my things, kiss my mom goodbye on the cheek, and happily run out the house heading to Sango's so we can go to the mall. She'll probably be staying the night tonight, which is no new news because she normally does when we go out, so she'll help keep me in line; like always. I put on my favorite happy music as I drive; making sure it's loud enough to blare me out as I sing along. It's only a few minutes later that I reach Sango's house and bounce up to her door knocking repeatedly, practically jumping up and down.

Now if you remember right, Sango was grumpy miss grumpy pants this morning because of her lack of sleep. Well, to be nice about it, she looked better than this morning, but my repeated knocking only ticked her off more. Do I care? HA! Nope, I grab her, hug her, and make her bounce with me as I say the world has ended all happily over and over.

Sometimes, if I didn't know myself, I think I'd call the men in the white coats to take me away. Sango struggles to pry me off of her and grabs her coat, as she leads me back to my car. You know, I really don't understand how she puts up with me. She's always so, together, and I'm just all around happy, angry, sad, the list forever goes on!

Sango sat me in the passenger seat and took the driver seat of my car. I know you're all surprised I have a car. Well I do, just not allowed to have it at Kikyo's house. Her parents complain that it blocks cars in and blocks their drive way, along with a bunch of other crap. So these weekends when I actually get to drive are amazing. At this current moment, I don't mind that Sango is going to drive, because I'm honestly happier than I have ever been. At least now we have something to celebrate while we go out tonight and it's not just to forget about past pains.

When we get to the mall, well you know how shopping is right? It's not the greatest thing in the world but it is nice to get something different from time to time. See all the new styles that are trending as you spend hours on end just walking in to all the varieties of stores looking at all the clothes, even ones you know you'd never wear, and all the jewelry that each store offers. Eventually you find a shirt in one store, skirt in another, shoes from one on the other side of the mall, and a nice piece of jewelry that's not to flashy but not bland in the middle of the mall in a small store that you never would have thought you'd find something like that in.

Yup; that just about sums it up. Now don't forget the awesome pretzels you get before you leave and the pet store where you oogle all the puppies and kittens, who are just loving all of the attention they receive by all the little kids who think it's a zoo. It is quite an adorable site to see. Maybe one day I'd even consider being a mother. Ha; that would mean I'd have to deal with the dating drama, which I don't do. So I guess that day will never come. Well, I guess I could get inseminated.

Sango and I had found our perfect outfits for both the club tonight and the party tomorrow, also we ate our wonderful pretzels that are only available at a few locations near us. Yes, I can hear your anger at us having the best pretzels in the world. Big, fluffy, soft, salty, twisted, yummy pretzels you dip in cheese. They are made with crack I swear. So addicting. They even warn you that they are addicting. They have a big sign that says, "Caution: Eating our pretzels will make you want another," or something close to that, don't pay too close attention I just eat their pretzels.

We stop and say hello to the puppies on our way out and we head back to her house. How we had wasted over four hours at the mall, I will never understand. We had to rush to get ready if we were going to go out tonight. Our make-up was a minimum, and we didn't put on any perfume - because let's face it, they aren't going to smell it in the mass amount of bodies jammed together anyways, - and I left my hair down in its natural waves as Sango threw it up in a high pony tail. Within the hour we were out of the house and climbing into Kouga's jeep as he drove us to the club we often frequented. Ayame was with Kouga and her outfit was a bit more… conservative, but that makes sense being a mate of a Youkai in all. We don't want blood spilt on the dance floor do we?

I forgot to mention that Kouga and Ayame mated shortly after our break up, didn't I? It doesn't matter anyways; I don't think I could ever be a Youkai's mate. They flip at the smallest things. If you cough in the general direction of their mate they see red. I can't even really describe it, all I can say is - I don't want to be involved in that kind of thing. Yes, I know it's normally not a choice, but doesn't mean I have to accept it as it is. Hence why I freaked out when Kouga tried to force himself on me and make me his mate. I know you wonder why I would want to be friends with someone who tried to do all that, but Youkai have it hard. They don't get to choose things like that themselves, and it causes them to crazy sometimes. I bet you wonder why I even dated a Youkai in the first place if I didn't want to be their mate. Yeah, I have yet to answer that one.

Once we get to the club; well, that's when things started to go south.

.~*~*~*~

**AN **Again please review and tell me your thoughts. Thank you so much for reading. I love you all! (Words: 9,724)


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